Urban Governance, Institutional Capacity and Social Milieux (Urban and Regional Planning and Development Series)

Urban governance has faced numerous challenges as city governments, their partners and their critics struggle to transform themselves in the context of post-industrial economies and societies. This context has generated new relations of economic life and social activity to be accommodated in cities, and has also changed expectations of the roles, relationships and modes of governance. New conceptual tools to analyze these experiences are becoming available, linked to a broad "institutionalist" wave of ideas sweeping right across the social sciences. This text responds to the challenges faced by urban governance and explores a range of efforts to build new institutional capacities. An international team of social scientists and practitioners critically analyzes conceptual challenges, policy developments and practical experiences.